E 255 
.F33 

Copy 1 ET^OLUTION"A.RY CLAIMS. 



SPEECH 



HON. R^E." FENTON, 



OF NEW YORK, 



In support of his Bill reported by Mr. Cragin, without amendmenf, from 
the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, for the Final Settlement 
oi the Claims of the Officers and Soldiers of the Revo- 
lutionary Army, and the Widows and Chil- 
dren of those who died in the Service. 



m THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JUNE 1 1, 1858. 





WASHINGTON, D. C, 

iUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 

1858. 



SPEECH OF MR. FENTOK 



After moving to suspend the rules to enable 
bim to take up the bill to provide for the final 
settlement of the claims of the officers and sol- 
diers of the Revolutionary army — 

Mr. Fenton said : 

Mr. Speaker : Early in the present 
session, I referred this bill to the Com- 
mittee on Revolutionary Claims ; and 
the committee, after a careful examina- 
tion of its provisions, with entire una- 
nimity reported it back, and it viras 
placed on the calendar of the House. 
I had expected to reach it in the regular 
order ; but as that is now impossible, I 
fiave adopted this, the only method of 
getting it before the House for consider- 
ation this session ; and while I make an 
appeal to the friends of the bill, the 
friends of the heroes of our Revolution- 
ary struggle, the friends of equity and 
justice, to aid in suspending the rules, 
I beg the indulgence of the House to 
briefly assign my reasons in favor of the 
passage of the bill. 

It differs from that of the late distin- 
guished Senator from South Carolina, 
Judge Evans, which passed both Houses 
of Congress at different sessions, in this : 
it allowed the half pay promised by 
Congress, from the close of the Revolu- 
tion to 1826, and deducts the commuta- 
tion certificates for five years' full pay, 
which the oflBcers received, (although 
worth at the time one-eighth only of 
their apparent value,) but does not de- 
duct the pensions allowed the survivors 
by the act of May 15, 1828 ; nor does 
it make any provision for the soldiers; 
whereas my bill allows the half pay 
from the (Jlose of the war to the date of 



the ofiicer's death, and deducts all the 
Government ever paid, by way of com- 
mutation, or as pensions, under the act 
of 1828. It also grants a quarter sec- 
tion of land to the surviving children of 
the soldiers — in other words, extends to 
them the benefits of the act of March 
3, 1855, from which they are excluded 
by the word " minor," there being no 
minor heirs of the Revolutionary sol 
diers. 

The committee, in their able report, 
have sustained the principles of this bill 
in a masterly and conclusive manner; 
and I cannot so successfully, by any 
argument of my own, make plain to the 
House and the country the great injus- 
tice of our refusal to pass this bill, as 
by including a portion of it in my re- 
marks. 

The committee say : 

" That, since the Revolution, the claims of the 
officers of the Continental army for the half pay 
for life, promised them by various resolutions of 
the Continental Congress, have frequently been 
before the committees of this House, and received 
their favorable consideration. At the last Con- 
gress, a report was made from the Committee on 
Revolutionary Pensions, by Mr. Broom, (see 
House Report No. 31, first session Thirty-fourth 
Congress,) in which the subject is so fully 
considered, that the committee deem it unne- 
cessary to enlarge upon the views therein ex- 
pressed, but adopt it as a part of their report, to 
be printed therewith. 

*' From an examination of that report, and 
various other documents relating to the subject, 
your committee have arrived at the following 
conclusions : 

" 1. That the resolves of October 21, 1780, and 
other acts of Congress, promising half pay for 
life to the officers of the Continental army who 
should serve to the end of the war, or until the 
time of their reduction, formed a contract be- 



tween the United States and the officers of the 
army, in their individual capacity, at a time 
when both were free to make it, founded upon a 
good and valid consideration. 

" 2. That the officers fully performed and ful- 
filled the contract on their part, and by their 
services, sacrifices, and sufferings, gained the 
liberty and independence of the country. 

" 3. That on the performance of said contract, 
each officer, as an individual, acquired a vested 
right of property therein, of which he could not 
be divested ' without due process of law^ or by his 
own free and voluntary relinquishment ; and any 
act of Congress impairing or affecting this right 
is repugnant to the Constitution, and void. Under 
this contract, each officer became entitled from 
thfi United States to half pay, according to the 
rank he held in the army, from the close of the 
Revolutionary war, or from the time of his dis- 
charge from the service, until the period of his 
death, to be paid yearly and every year during 
that period ; and for the performance of such 
contract on the part of the United States, the faith 
of the nation ivas solemnly pledged. The commit- 
ter also find that such officers were also entitled 
to an interest of six per cent, per annum on the 
yearly payments, and on the aggregate from the 
date of the officer's death to the time of settle- 
ment, under the resolution of Congress passed 
June 3, 1784, which provides ' that an interest 
of six per cent, shall be allowed to all the cred- 
itors of the United States for supplies furnished 
or services done, from the time that payment be- 
came due.' In alluding to this resolve, Chief 
Justice Gilchrist, of the Court of Claims, in a 
recent decision, says : ' No language could be 
more express or free from doubt than this. The 
resolution was passed from a feeling that it was 
just and right that interest should be paid from 
the time the half pay became due, and it was 
a voluntary contract on the part of the United 
States, constituting a legal claim against them, 
which no subsequent legislation could release 
without the consent of the other party.' The 
above contract for half pay, although made under 
the Confederation, is equally binding upon Con- 
gress; for by the sixth article of the Constitution 
of the United States, section one, ' all debts con- 
tracted or engagements entered into before the 
adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid 
against the United States under this Constitu- 
tion as under the Confederation.' 

"4. That on the 22d of March, 1783, an at- 
tempt to avoid the above contract and procure 
satisfaction thereof was made by Congress, under 
an act called the commutation act, by which it 
was proposed to commute the above life annui- 
ties for five years' full pay. 

"5. This act was manifestly unjust, in compel- 
ling individuals to abide by the decisions of the 
lines of the army, and placing the old and the 
young on an equal footing. An officer sixty 
years of age might well commute his life annuity 
for ten years' half pay in advance, while one of 
thirty would have a right, upon the principles 
which govern life annuities, to estimate his life 
at a much longer period. It wholly deprived the 
officers, as individuals, of the right to determine 



whether they would accept or refuse ; and the 
committee have not been able to ascertain that 
the officers, either by lines or as individuals, ever 
gave their assent to the commutation. But if. 
under the pressure of their poverty, (for be it 
remembered, the Continental money in which 
their monthly stipends had been paid was nearly 
valueless,) they had assented, 'it cannot be con- 
sidered as a voluntary assent, but rather a sub- 
mission to an uncontrollable and instant neces- 
sity, which admitted of no deliberation or delay.' 
The resolve of Congress, an act of the Govern- 
ment, left them no choice except to abide by the 
decision of the lines and corps of the army. They 
were entirely within the power of the Govern- 
ment, and could do nothing which presented 
better prospects for themselves. 

" 6. The money was not paid, nor were the 
securities, bearing an interest of six per cent , 
such as the act contemplated, or as the officers 
expected. The Government made no provision 
for the payment of either principal or interest 
of the commutation until long after the imperi- 
ous necessities of the officers compelled them to 
part with the certificates for less than a year's 
pay. It is true, however, that paper certificates 
of service were issued by John Pierce, paymas- 
ter, payable to the officers or bearer, for five 
years' full pay, and many doubtless received 
them. They were worth, at the time of their 
issue, one-eighth of a dollar only; and not until 
after a period of about ten years, and most of 
them were in the hands of speculators, were 
they funded and paid by the United States. The 
loss of interest alone on the commutation of a 
captain, ($2,400,) who lived in 1828, was $2,536, 
and so in proportion to other officers ; and this' 
amount the Government saved by the commuta- 
tion. — See Annals of Congress, vol. 4, part 1, for 
lS2l-'28, page Ml. 

" TTie commutation, then, is clearly liable to the 
following objections : 

" 1. That the commutation was not a valid 
accord and satisfaction for the half pay for life. 

" 2. That it was so construed as to take away 
the rights of these officers under the resolve of 
October, 1780. 

" 3. Of not being an equivalent for the half 
pay. 

" 4. Of having been effected under circum- 
stances, and by the operation of motives, which 
deprive it of all obligatory force. 

" 5. That, according to strict legal construc- 
tion, these officers did not commute their prom- 
ised half pay for life by accepting the so-called 
commutation certificates; they in no respect 
having been in conformity to the act. 

" 6. Of partial execution. 

"7. The reports of Mr. Madison, in 1783; Mr. 
Nelson, in 1810; Mr. Johnson, in 1818; Mr. Ser- 
geant, December 10, 1819 ; Mr. Hemphill, January 
3, 1826 ; Mr. Burgess, May 8, 1826, and February 
11,1828; the act of May 15, 1828; Senator Walk- 
er's report in 1852 ; Senator Evans's, February 4, 
1854; and Mr. Broom, April 4, 1856 — show a re- 
peated recognition of the contract on the part of 
Congress ; but no general provision appears to 
have been made by Congress for the relief of 



these officers until the act of May 15, 1828, in 
which the contract of lYBO is fully recognised. 
They are there acknowledged as creditors of the 
Government, and not pensioners. That act, how- 
ever, applies to the few surviving officers only, 
and made no provision for those who died before 
its passage. 

" In the vory able report of Mr. Burgess, made 
February 11, 1828, the committee say: 'That, in 
their opinion, the delivery of those certificates, 
as well on general principles as on those which 
govern courts of law and equity, did not annul 
the right of half pay, or exonerate the Govern- 
ment from the obligations of the original con- 
tract. Such of those officers as had survived 
the war, and continued in the service until 
peace, became severally and individually vested 
with a complete right to the reward of half pay 
for the residue of their lives. The reward was 
gallantly won at the point of the sword ; it was 
the price of our independence, purchased with 
blood, and secured by I'ublie faith.' 

'• The committee, therefore, report the bill re- 
ferred to them without amendment, and recom- 
mend its passage. It allows half pay for life to 
the officers from the close of the Revolution to 
the date of their death, deducting therefrom all 
sums which nave ever been paid to them by the 
Government, by way of commutation or as pay, 
under the act of May 15, 1828. For the purpose 
of extending to the surviving children of the sol- 
diers of the Revolution the benefits of the act of 
March 3, 1855, a section has been inserted for 
that purpose. The act referred to was doubtless 
intended to embrace their claims, but the word 
'minor' excludes them, as there are no 'minor 
children' of the Revolution; and hence the ne- 
cessity of further legislation in behalf of these 
meritorious claimants. The committee will add, 
that bills embracing the principle contained in 
the bill herewith reported, so far as relates to 
the officers and their descendants, have passed 
the Senate and House of Representatives by large 
majorities, at different sessions of Congress." 

Strange to say, nearly fifty years ago 
a bill similar, but much more liberal in 
its provisions, to the bill now before the 
House, was reported at a time when all 
business of the country was depressed, 
and the Treasury was empty, for this 
half pay ; and all the committees to 
whom these claims have been referred 
since that time have all united in the 
admission that these claims for half pay 
were justly due. How could they do 
otherwise 1 History finds that after the 
war had continued some fifteen months 
by enlistments for short terms, Congress 
resolved to raise eighty-eight battalions 
to serve for the war ; and on the 16th 
September, 1776, 

"Resolved, That, in addition to a money bounty 
of twenty dollars to each non-commissioned offi- 



cer and private soldier. Congress make provision 
for granting lands, in the following proportions, 
to the officers and soldiers who shall engage in 
the service, and continue therein to the close of 
the war, or until discharged by Congress, and to 
the representatives of such officers and soldiers as 
shall be slain by the enemy. Such lands to be 
provided by the United States ; and whatever 
expense shall be necessary to procure such land, 
the said expense shall be paid and borne by 
the States, in the same proportion as the other 
expenses of the war, namely : to a colonel, five 
hundred acres; to a lieutenant colonel, four hun- 
dred and fifty acres ; to a major, four hundred 
acres ; to a captain, three hundred acres ; to a 
lieutenant, two hundred acres; to an ensign, one 
hundred and fifty acres; each non-commissioned 
officer and soldier, one hundred acres." 

And Congress afterward was obliged 
to add the resolve of May 15, 1778 : 

" Resolved, unanimously, That all military offi- 
cers commissioned by Congress, who are now or 
hereafter may be in the service, of the United 
States, and shall continue therein during the 
war, and not hold any office of profit under those 
States, or any of them, shall, after the conclu- 
sion of the war, be entitled to receive annually, 
for the term of seven years, if they live so long, 
one-half of the present pay of such officers : Pro- 
vided, That no general officer of the cavalry, ar- 
tillery, or infantry, shall be entitled to receive 
more than one-half part of the pay of a colonel 
of such corps, respectively." 

It should not be forgotten that during 
this time the Government was in good 
credit, and the war was being carried 
on with loan office bills and certificates ; 
and there had issued up to JYovember 
29, 1779, two hundred millioii of dol- 
lars, and a very large amount of other' 
classes of Government securities ; that 
the Government soon after became ut- 
terly insolvent, and all the schemes of 
the Government to carry on the war by 
the aid of loan offices utterly failed ; 
and as early as March 18, 1780, Con- 
gress was obliged to relinquish the hope 
of redeeming the Government paper, 
(much of it then being in the hands of 
the officers,) and on the 18th of April, 
1780, passed a resolution — 

"That the principal of all certificates taken 
out since the 18th of March, 1780, should be 
discharged at the rate of one Spanish milled 
dollar, or the current exchange thereof, in other 
money at the time of payment, for forty dollars 
of the said bills of credit secured on loan ; and 
that the principal of all certificates that should 
thereafter be taken out, until the further order of 
Congress, be discharged at the same rate and in 
(he same manner as those that had been taken 
out since the 18th of March, 1780." 



Here, then, was the public declara- 
tion of the utter insolvency of the Gov- 
ernment, as early as the 18th of March, 
1780. 

Thus, while the State troops were 
being paid by State authorities, the Pro- 
vincial Government had neither money 
nor credit to carry on the war. These 
important facts should be kept in view ; 
for it will be seen that after the war 
had continued over five years, that, in 
consequence of the utter insolvency of 
the Government, two distinct classes of 
currency were established by law. That 
the paper of the Government had ceased 
to be considered as security.^ and there- 
fore the seven years' half pay contract 
of October 3, 1780, promised the super- 
numerary officers, was made payable in 
specie. That on the 3d of October, 
1780, Congress reorganized the army, to 
take effect on the 1st of January, 1781, 
the effect of which was to throw many 
of the officers out of service. They 
therefore, at the same time, adopted the 
following resolution : 

" And whereas, by the foregoing arrangement, 
many deserving officers must become S2ipernu- 
merary, and it is proper that regard be had to 
them: 

^'■Resolved, That from the time the reform of 
the army talies place, they be entitled to half 
pay for seven years, in specie, or other current 
money equivalent, and also grants of land at the 
close of the war, agreeably to the resolution of 
the 16th of September, 1776." 

It will be observed, by the letter of 
General Washington, that it became 
necessary, inasmuch as there was no 
funds in the Treasury, to offer some 
strong inducement by pledging the honor 
of the nation for some prospective re- 
ward, and all were embraced in the re- 
solve of October 21, 1780. 

It was at this critical time of the 
eight years' struggle for liberty, when 
the hopes of those who had borne its 
burdens seemed about to terminate in 
disappointment and despair, that Con- 
gress, on the 21st day of October, 1780, 
after the repeated and earnest solicita- 
tions of Washington, 

" Resolved, That the Commander-in-chief and 
commanding officer in the Southern department 
direct the officers of each State to meet and 
agree upon the officers for the regiments to be 



raised by their respective States, from those who 
incline to continue in service; and where it can- 
not be done by agreement, to be determined by 
seniority, and make return of those who are to 
remain; which is to be transmitted to Congress, 
together with the names of the officers reduced, 
who are to be allowed half pay for life. That 
the officers who shall continue in the service to 
the end of the war shall be entitled to half pay 
during life, to commence from the time of their 
reduction." 

This resolution having embraced those 
officers named in that of October 3, 
1780, it was simply supplementary, ad- 
ditional to, and blending of that contract, 
and was therefore payable in specie. It 
could not have been viewed otherwise, 
because the act of the 18th of March 
and April, and 28th June, 1780, fi.xing 
the value of all Government paper to 
two and a half dollars to the hundred, 
was in full force, and so continued, du- 
ring the whole period of the old Confed- 
eracy. Here, then, it is admitted that 
this was a solemn contract, by which 
these officers were promised half of their 
annual pay during their lives ; that this 
life estate was, as the committees have 
always found, a vested right, and could 
not be impaired by any subsequent legis- 
lation ; that it was a promise to each 
officer individually. Was this half-pay 
contract for life ever paid, in specie or 
otherwise, during the period of the old 
Confederacy? All agree that no por- 
tion of principal or interest was ever paid 
during that time nor since as half pay. 

But it is sometimes contended that 
the computation act, as it is sometimes 
called, of March 22, 1783, was passed 
at the request of some of the officers. 
Because, as it is. alleged in the preamble 
of the resolution itself, " in order to re- 
move all subject of dissatisfaction from 
the minds of their felloio- citizens,''^ (not 
the officers, let it be remembered :) 

" And whereas Congress are desirous as well 
of gratifying the reasonable expectations of the 
officers of the army, as removing all objections 
which may exist in any part of the United States 
to the principle of the half-pay establishment, for 
which the faith of the United States hath been 
pledged ; persuaded that those objections can 
only arise from the nature of the compensation, 
not from any indisposition to compensate those 
ivhosa services, sacrifices, and sufferings, have se 
Just a title to the approbation and rewards of their 
country : Therefore, 



" Resolved, That such officers as are now in 
service, and shall continue therein to the end 
of the war, shall be entitled to receive the 
amount of five years' full pay in money or securi- 
ties on interest at six per cent, per annum, as 
Congress shall find most convenient, instead of 
the half pay promised for life by the resolution 
of the 21st day of October, 1780; the said ««- 
,eurities to be such as shall be given to other 
creditors of the United States : Provided, it be at 
the option of the lines of the respective States, 
and not of officers, individually, in those lines, to 
accept or refuse the same : And provided, also, 
That their election shall be signified to Congress, 
through the Commander-in-chief, from the lines 
under his immediate command, within two 
months, and through the commanding officer of 
the Southern army, from those under his com- 
mand, within six months from the date of this 
resolution." 

This act does not repeal that of the 
21st October, 1780, and there are many 
objections to this resolve, which should 
be conclusive why it ought not to have 
any influence over the half-pay contract. 

1. Because it appears by the pream- 
ble that the few officers who petitioned 
Congress for some act which should give 
them a sum in gross for a term of years, 
did so for the only reason to remove 
" dissatisfaction from the minds of their 
fellow -citizens " to the " half-'pay es- 
tablishment.''^ 

2. Because, by the terms of the act 
itself the officers were expressly pro- 
hibited from expressing their dissent to 
the same. 

3. Because this resolve was not pass- 
ed until after the peace, after the con- 
tract had been fulfilled on the part of 
the officers. 

4. Because it was well knoion to 
Congress^ at the time of the passage of 
that acty the Government had no power 
to comply with any of the conditions of 
that act, either to pay said officers in 
specie or give them security. The send- 
ing out those commutation certificates, 
and inducing the officers to believe that 
they were to be secured and brought 
within the terms even of this resolve, 
was utterly at variance and inconsistent 
with, and in violation of, the pledged 
faith of the American people ; and the 
officers should not be. held to account for 
only their legal value, two dollars and 
a half to the hundred ; this was its true 



value by law during all the period of 
the old Confederacy, for some three 
years afterwards; and it was merely a 
certificate of a captain's rank for only 
sixty dollars instead of twenty-four 
hundred dollars. And this was the re- 
lation of the officers who held a specie- 
paying contract through all the old and 
during the new Confederacy up to the 
4th of August, 1790. Even at this late 
day, after these certificates had been 
passed from hand to hand at their legal 
value of two dollars and fifty cents to 
the hundred, and while out of the hands 
of the officers, they are funded on the 
specie basis of one dollar to the hun- 
dred. 

But in order to remove all doubts in 
relation to the final disposition of these 
certificates, even by those who held 
them, and to show that there was de- 
ducted, and never paid to any person 
whatever, in the ratio of a captain's 
grade, which amounted, on the 1st 
day of January, 1828, to the sum of 
$2,536.32, the second section of the 
funding act of August 4, 1790, author- 
izes the President to cause $12,000,000 
to be borrowed, part to pay arrears and 
instalments of the foreign debt, and to 
make other contracts relating to the 
foreign debt. The act then proceeds 
in relation to the domestic debt thus : 

" And whereas it is desirable to adapt the 
nature of the provision to be made for the do- 
mestic debt to the present circumstances of the 
Umted States, as far as it shall be found prac- 
ticable, consistently with good faith and the 
rights of the creditors, which can only be done 
by a volu7itary loan on their part." 

The third section then authorizes a 
loan to be proposed to the full amount 
of the '"'' domestic debt,^^ by opening 
books for receiving subscriptions, by a 
commissioner of loans, to be appointed 
in each of the States ; and that the 
sums which shall be subscribed thereto 
be payable in " certificates,^^ issued for 
the said debt according to their specie 
value; which said certificates are desig- 
nated and described as follows: 

" 1. The ' certificates' issued by the Register 
of the Treasury. 

" 2. Those issued by the commissioners of 
loans in the several States, including ' certifi- 



8 



cates ' given pursuant to the act of Congress of 
the '2d January, 1 779, /or bills of credit oi the 
several emissions of the 20th of May, 1777, and 
of the 11th April, 1778. 

"3. Those issued by the commissioners for 
the adjustment of the accounts of the quarter- 
master, commissary, hospital, clothing, and ma- 
rine departments. 

" 4. Those issued by the commissioners for 
the adjustment of the accounts of the respective 
States. 

" 5. Those issued by the late and present 
Postmaster General, or commissioTier of army ac- 
counts. 

" G. Those issued for the payment of interest, 
commonly called indents of interest. 

" 7. And the ' bills of credit ' issued by the 
authority of the United States, in Congress as- 
sembled, at the rate of $100 m the said bills for 
one dollar in specie." 

The fourth section designates and 
describes the three new certificates which 
the subscribers to the said loans shall 
be entitled to receive ; upon all certifi- 
cates bearing interest, the same is to be 
received up to the last day of December, 
1790. 

" That (or the whole or any part of any sum 
subscribed to the said loan, by any person or 
persons, or body politic, which shall be paid 
in the principal of the said domestic debt, the sub- 
scriber or subscribers shall be entitled to a cer- 
tificate purporting that the United States owe 
to the holder or holders thereof, his, her, or their 
assigns, a sum to be expressed therein, equal to 
two-thirds of the sum so paid, bearing an inter- 
est of six per centum, payably quarter yearly, 
and subject to redemption by payments, not ex- 
ceeding in one year in amount of principal and 
interest the proportioji of eight dollars upon a 
hundred of the sum mentioned in said certifi- 
cate. A second certificate for- one-third, paya- 
ble as aforesaid, bearing interest after 1800. A 
third certificate, for the amount of the interest, 
bearing an interest at three per centum per an- 
num, payable quarter yearly ; provided it shall 
not be understood that the United States shall be 
bound or obliged to redeem in the proportion afore- 
said ; but it shall be understood only that they have 
a right to do so." 

Thus the foots find that none of the 
terms or conditions of the resolve of 
March 22, 1783, were complied with by 
the old or the new Government, but re- 
pudiated. This five years' full pay, by 
the terms of the resolve, was to have 
been paid in specie or securities. This 
first contract for half pay being payable 
in specie, it would have been exchanging 
specie for the depreciated paper of the 
Government, worth by law only two 
and a half dollars to the hundred. Such 



an act might conditionally have been 
considered supplementary to that of Oc- 
tober 21 ; but that having utterly failed 
in its execution, it is not important to 
show whether the officers, relying upon 
the good foith of the Government at 
that time, accepted said certificates or 
not. It is certainly true, that if they 
had been either specie or security, it 
would not have been necessary for the 
holders to have fonded them at a loss 
of over thirty per cent, even on a term 
of time requiring about forty years for 
their liquidation. And not only so, this 
Government, it will be seen, by the 
funding act reserved the right of paying 
even that amount or aot. But after 
these facts have been found, some may 
not agree to the construction of the 
funding act. I therefore submit the 
remarks of Mr. Tucker, of New Jersey, 
while the same contract was being dis- 
cussed, in passing the act of May 15, 
1828. Referring to the records of the 
Register's office : 

" Mr. Tucker, of New Jersey. It is ascertained, 
Mr. Chairman, that each captain, for his five 
years' full pay, received a certificate for $2,400, 
bearing interest at six per cent., payable annu- 
ally, and such a certificate Captain Dehart re- 
ceived in lieu of his half pay tor life, which ran 
eight years without payment of interest, as be- 
fore Slated, namely, from the 1st of January, 
1783, to the 1st of January, 1791, the interest 
amounting on the latter Jay to $1,152; making 
in the aggregate $3,552. It will be recollected 
that in March, 1788, the present Government 
went into operation, and in the year 1790 made 
provision for and funded the public debt. 

'•Well, sir, how did they provide for the pay- 
ment of Captain Dehart's $2,400 principal, and 
$1,152 interest, due on the 1st of January, 1791? 
Why, sir, they gave him three certificates — one 
for $1,600, being two-thirds his principal, with 
interest at six per cent., and one for $800, the 
other third of his debt, but deferred ten years 
without interest; and, instead cf paying his 
$1,152 down, or giving him paper at six per cent., 
they gave him a certificate for his -$1,152 inter- 
est, redeemable at the pleasure of the United 
States, at three per cent. Let us now examine 
how this funding system operated : 

1. Loss of interest on $800, deferred from 1st of 
January, 1791, to Ist of January, 1801, (ten 
years,) at six percent $480.00 

2. Interest on the above sum from the 

1st January, 1801, to the 1st Jan- 
uary, 1828, (twenty-seven years,) at 
six per cent 777.60 

3. Lose of interest on the $1,152 of the 

three per cent, from 1st January, 



1828, (thirty-seven years,) at three 

per cent 1,2'78.T2 

Total loss of Captain Dehart, down 

to this time 2,536.32 

" And, in the same proportion, every officer's 
payor commutation, according to his ranli. 

" The commutation, then, is clearly liable to 
the following objections : 

" 1. That the commutation was not a valid 
accord and satisfaction for half pay for life. 

" 2. That it was so construed as to take away 
the rights of these officers, under the resolve of 
October, ITSO. 

" 3. Of not being an equivalent for the half 

pay- 

"4. Of having been effected under circum- 
stances, and by the operation of motives, which 
deprive it of all obligatory force. 

" 5. That, according to strict legal construc- 
tion, these officers did not commute their prom- 
ised half pay for life by accepting the so-called 
commutation certificates ; they in no respect 
having been in conformity to the act. 

" 6. Of partial and defective execution." 

In that great national act of neces- 
sity — that of funding all the paper of 
the Government — Congress did not omit 
to make some provision for these half- 
pay claims. Accordingly, the ninth 
section of the funding act provides : 

" That nothing in this act contained shall be 
construed in any wise to alter, abridge, or im- 
pair the rights of those creditors of the United 
States who shall not subscribe to the said loan, 
or the contracts upon which their respective claims 
are founded; but the contracts and rights shall re- 
main in full force and virtue." 

Not only so : in order to make cred- 
itors some compensation for the inevita- 
ble delay of payment, which the impov- 
erished Treasury could not fail to pre- 
dict, on the 3d of June, 1784, Congress 
passed the following resolution : 

" That an interest of six per cent, per annum 
shall be allowed to all creditors of the United 
States, for supplies furnished, or services done, 
from the time the payment became due." 

This extended to all their arrears of 
pay long due, as well as to their half 
pay. Chief Justice Gilchrist, in a re- 
cent decision, in alluding to this resolve, 
says : 

" No language could be more express or free 
from doubt than this. The resolution was pass- 
ed from a feeling that it was just and right that 
interest should be paid from the time the half 
pay became due ; and it was a voluntary con- 
tract on the part of the United States, consti- 
tuting a legal claim against them, which no sub- 
sequent legislation could release without the 
consent of the other party." * * * " It 



may be added, that, up to the year 1837, there 
was paid interest on fifteen hundred and ten 
claims of widows and orphans, and claims of 
officers for personal services, the statute of lim- 
itation as to such claims having been sus- 
pended." 

The omission, therefore, to pay the 
interest due annually on those certifi- 
cates, was a violation of the resolve of 
1783, as well as the condition of the 
certificates. 

The sixth article of the Constitution 
provides — 

"That all debts contracted and engagements 
entered into before the adoption of this Consti- 
tution shall be as valid against the United States, 
under this Constitution, as under the Confed- 
eration." 

The act of 1783 admits the half-pay 
claim to be such a debt or tngagement. 

"This Constitution, and the laws of the United 
Statos which shall be made in pursuance there- 
of, and all treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the authority of the United States, 
shall be the supreme lau' of the land; and the 
judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State 
to the contrary notwithstanding." 

In order, if possible, to render the 
public faith more secure, more sacred, 
the third section of the Constitution 
provides that— 

"The Senators and Representatives before 
mentioned, and the members of the several State 
Legislatures, and all Executive and Judicial offi- 
cers, both of the United States and of the sev- 
eral States, shall be bound by an oath or affirma- 
tion to support this Constitution." 

The resolve of 1783 declares — 

" That the faith of the United States hath been 
pledged to those officers whose services and suffer- 
ings have so just a title to the appropriation and 
rewards of their country." 

But, notwithstanding these claims had 
been fully and ably discussed in the pas- 
sage of the act of May 15, 1828, wherein 
the half-pay claims are fully recognised, 
and the act expressly declared, " that 
each of the surviving officers of the army 
of the Revolution, in the continental 
line, who was entitled to half pay by 
the resolve of October 21, 1780, be au- 
thorized to receive, out of any money in 
the Treasury," &c., and takes no notice 
of or makes any deduction for these 
commutation certificates. It does not 
attempt to describe such ofiicers as were 
entitled to commutation. Yet Congress, 



10 



since the pendency of these claims, have 
established a court for their investiga- 
tion, and ordered one of the heirs of 
these same joint and several payees to 
go before that court, and the United 
States were there by their attorney, and 
it -was there contended that the commu- 
tation paid in specie was a compromise 
of the half-pay contract. We have the 
decision of this court, in confirmation 
of these claims. That is not all ; the 
Thirty-fourth Congress ratified that 
decision. That decision is a public law 
of the United States, made in pursuance 
of the Constitution, under the authority 
of the United States, which that Con- 
stitution declares shall he the supreme 
law of the land. Congress cannot de- 
cline an investigation themselves, and 
refuse to adopt the legal and judicial 
exposition of these claims. The case 
referred to is that of Thomas H. Baird, 
a son of Absalom Baird, who was a 
commissioned surgeon in the army of 
the Revolution, and in that capacity 
was entitled by law to half pay for life, 
and other emoluments. Says Chief Jus- 
tice Gilchrist : 

" The proceedings in relation to the claim for 
commutation do not appear tp be very material 
in relation to the case in the present position. 
On the 23d March, 1783, a resolution was passed, 
providing that the officers and others entitled to 
iialf pay for life ' shall be entitled to receive at 
the end of the war their five years' full pay, in 
lieu of half pay for life, in money — that is, spe- 
cie — or in securities on interest, as Congress shall 
find most convenient.' On the 28th of January, 
1794, Dr. Baird applied for the benefit of this 
provision, but died in the year 1806 — having, as 
is said in the report of the Committee of Claims 
of the 5th February, 1855, 'become wearied and 
disheartened with delay.' In the year 1818, his 
eon, Thomas H. Baird, having become of age, 
petitioned Congress for relief; and on the 3d of 
March, 1855, the committee reported that ' Dr. 
Absalom Baird was entitled to the benefit of the 
act of the I7th of January, 1781, extending the 
grant of half pay for life to the officers of the 
hospital department and medical staff.' No ac- 
tion was had upon the resolution until the 22d 
of June, 1836, when an act was passed granting 
five years' full pay as commutation, under the 
resolution of 1783, but without interest. 

" Now, this claim does not depend for its va- 
lidity upon any admission contained in the act 
of 1836. But the Congress which passed that 
act must have considered that Dr. Baird had a 
legal claim of some kind ; otherwise their con- 
duct, in granting him five years' full pay, was 



wholly indefensible. It is, however, relied upon 
as a final settlement of the claim. Upon any 
principle known to the law, this position is 
wholly untenable. It is easy enough to declare, 
ex cathedra, that it was a final settlement. But 
it is extremely difficult to imagine, in the ab- 
sence of all evidence, what reasons can be urged 
for holding that the payment of a sum of money 
is of itself a discharge of a debt for a larger 
amount. A plea of payment of a small sum in 
satisfaction of a larger is bad, even af.er verdict. 
(2 Parsons on Contracts, 130, and notes.) This 
principle is familiar to every lawyer. A debt 
may be paid by a fair and well-understood com- 
promise, carried faithfully into effect. But here 
there was no compromise. If it were a case be- 
tween individuals, no one would dream of ap- 
plying such a term to it. The United States are 
either bound by principles of law applicable .to 
them, or they are not so bound. If they are not 
bound, there is an end of the discussion, for then 
all reasoning is fruitless. If they are bound by 
the principles of law, it is impossible to regard 
the payment of five years' full pay, without in- 
ierest, as a satisfaction of this claim. There is 
no evidence that either* party so regarded it ; 
and, unless we set at defiance every principle of 
law, we cannot hold that one party to a con- 
tract, without the consent of the other, can dis- 
charge his debt by the payment of a smaller 
sum than the amount due." * * * "The 
amount of Dr. Baird's half pay was $240 per 
annum, payable at the end of every year. He 
was entitled to this sum up to the 27th day of 
October, 1805, the day of his death, and interest 
on the payments as they became due, according 
to the express provisions of the resolutions of 
June 3, 1784." 

The Court of Claims therefore re- 
ported a bill for the relief of Thomas 
H. Baird. 

" Be it enacted, ^c, That the Secretary of the 
Treasury be, and hereby is, directed, out of any 
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropri- 
ated, to pay to Thomas H. Baird, administrator 
of the estate of Absalom Baird, a commission- 
ed surgeon in the army of the Revolution, the 
sura of $10,074.84, with interest thereon from 
the 27th day of October, 1805, to the 1st day of 
June, 1856, deducting therefrom the sum of 
$2,400, paid under the act of June 23, 1836." 

This bill, as presented by the Court 
of Claims, was reported, and passed 
both Houses by large majorities, with- 
out amendment. The act was duly ap- 
proved, and the amount paid at the 
Treasur}^ 

If the half pay was due the son of 
Dr. Baird, Congress was in duty bound 
at the very same session to have passed 
a general act in behalf of all the other 
joint and several payees of the same 
contract. These heirs waited patiently 



11 



for this decision; and yet, even to this 
day, they are still waiting impatiently 
for some general provision for their re- 
lief. The present bill gives less than 
one-third the amount allowed to Dr. 
Baird. The twenty-second section of 
the funding act of August 4, 1790, pro- 
vides : 

" That the proceeds of the sales which shall 
be made of lands in the Western Territory now 
belonging or that may hereafter belong to the 
United States, shall be, and are hereby, ap- 
propriated towards sinking or discharging the 
debts for the payment whereof the United States 
now are, or, by virtue of this act, may be holden, 
and shall be applied solely to that use until the 
said debts shall be fully satisfied." 

Many of these officers gave not only 
eight years' service to the war of the 
Revolution, but, in addition to that, they 
gave over eight years of suffering and 
deprivation in acquiring and retaining 
the possession of our public domain. 

" The proceeds of the sales of less than 
five million acres will cover all the pro- 
visions of the present bill ; the Govern- 
ment can take its own time for the dis- 
position of that amount. Over one hun- 
dred and thirty-nine million, up to 
June, 1857, had been sold for cash ; 
over sixty million acres for military 
bounty land warrants ; sixty-seven mil- 
lion for schools ; and over ten million 
for internal improvements. Over fifty 
million acres have been granted by Con- 
gress for military service of three months 
and of fourteen days, of the value of 
more than sixty million dollars." But, 
strange as it may appear, even after the 
decision in the case of Baird, ratified 
by the last Congress, embracing many 
members of the present Congress, who 
voted and passed that act ; yet the bill 
of the House, which only extends to the 
principal, without interest — in fact, 
giving only about one-third as much for 
the same time as was allowed to the son 
of Dr. Baird — yet this bill has been re- 
ported, and on the files of this House, 
for more than two months ; and when, 
too, it is not pretended that the commu- 
tation certificates which were sent to 
the officers were worth at the time they 
were sent over two and a half dollars to 
the hundred, are, by this bill, all to be 



deducted at their face; and, also, all 
which was paid them under the act of 
May 15, 1828. When we consider that 
all the money which has ever been paid 
to the officers and soldiers of the Revolu- 
tionary army, and to their widows and 
children, does not exceed thirty dollars 
to each person who served in the army 
of the Revolution during that long 
struggle ; so long as the United States, 
contrary to the true spirit of our repub- 
lican institutions, in violation of the 
rights of their citizens, shall continue 
to exclude them from the Federal courts 
of the Government, and compel them to 
come before Congress for the collection 
of their just debts, we shall be summoned 
here to hear, and are bound to investigate 
their claims. The forum cannot change 
the legality of their claims ; the business 
relations of this vast country with our 
Government, and the numerous con- 
tracts, express and implied, which exist 
between the parties, demand the pa- 
tience, nay, more, all of the time which 
Congress can possibly bestow. They 
appear before Congress, not in the de- 
grading form of suppliants, but as a 
portion of the sovereign people, with 
that Constitution in their hands which 
was ordained to establish justice, and 
which had its origin at the birth of 
those world-wide achievements accom- 
plished by the sufferings, the sacrifices, 
the patriotism, and the blood of those 
men of matchless valor, that this bill 
seeks to relieve and to honor. 

The report of Mr. Hemphill, of the 
committee of the House, of January 3, 
1826, in which he says "that, by vir- 
tue of those resolves, a solemn contract 
between the Government and officers 
was made, that ought to be observed on 
the part of the Government with the 
most profound sanctity ; that when the 
power of rescission resides exclusively 
in the bosom of one of the parties, it 
should be exceedingly cautious that jus- 
tice should be done to the other ; that 
the claims are founded on a contract 
which has not been fairly rescinded, and 
if it has, there cannot possibly be a 
doubt that the commutation contract 



12 



lias not been fulfilled," recommended 
allowing the officers their half pay, de- 
ducting their commutation certificates, 
without any reference to what may have 
been recovered under the invalid act of 
1818. 

So the committee of the Senate, in 
1838, reported: 

" After an assiduous investigation, the com- 
mittee conclude that no legislation subsequent 
to the 21st of October, IVSO, could, or by a fair 
construction did, contravene, or in any manner 
impair, the claim of the officers of the army, or 
any class of such officers, to the half pay prom- 
ised them by the act of October 21, 1780. The 
half pay for life contracted by the act of Octo- 
ber, 1780, to be paid to the officers of the army 
for certain services to be performed by them, 
inslanta- became a vested riyht^ of which subse- 
quent legislation nor nothing whatever could 
divest the officer, save a failure on his part to 
perform the prescribed service. And it would 
be a libel on the good sense and justice of the 
distinguished statesmen and patriots of that pe- 
riod, to imagine even that any legislation sub- 
sequent to the 21st of October, 1780, had for 
its object to impair the deliberate engagement 
made by that act to allow half pay for life to the 
officers of the army." 

In confirmation of the justice of these 
claims, it is refreshing to refer to the 
remarks of the late Secretary Wood- 
bury : 

" But they have averred, and it is again re- 
peated, that these officers are seeking a right, 
and that is a right both on common-law and on 
chancery principles. But if on only one, wheth- 
er it be a right on strict comrpon-law principles, 
or on chancery principles, it is equally a right, 
and the claim is equally a legal claim. The fo- 
rum in which it becomes a right does not alter 
its legality. Hence, if every gentleman would 
agree with him from Virginia, [Mr. Tyler,] that 
the statute of limitation should be scorned, and 
that the pretended payments made to these offi- 
cers was ' mere wind, mere trash,' I aver, that, 
in any forum, before any court or jury in Chris- 
tendom, this right, as between individuals, could 
now be unanswerably established. Let the issue 
be formed, and the cause tried to-morrow, and 
no three or five judges, no twelve 'good men 
and true,' as jurors, could say that the wages of 
toil and blood, the solemn promises for sacri- 
fices and sufferings, to secure the liberties of 
America, had ever been discharged by only 
' wind and trash.' " * * * 

"Without dwelling a moment on considerations 
before urged in the argument, in favor of the le- 
gality of this claim, let me ask, what has been 
the reply to the position of the committee, that, 
on strict legal principles, the promise of half pay 
for life has ever been fulfilled? Has any one 
shown that the half pay, in the form of half pay, 
has ever been paid? No pretence for it. Has 



any one shown that the half paj^ has ever been 
technically released? No pretence for it." * * 
* " How, then, has the promise of October, 1780, 
been fulfilled ? In no way, except by the act of 
commutation. But it could not be fulfilled by 
that act, unless all things were transacted in 
conformity' to the provisions of that act." * * 
"" " Everybody feels and knows, likewise, that 
the payment, to be in conformity to the act, was 
to have been money, or at least securities equiva- 
lent to money, when, in truth, it was neither; 
and even under the most favorable view, if the 
certificates were kept till the funding, fell short 
of what was due, from one-fourth to one-third. 
So the certificates, or the payment, should have 
been made in September, 1783, but were not, in 
fact, made until some time in 178-f:-'85, when 
worth much less. But, break through the forms 
of measures, and every lawyer, every constitu- 
tional statesman, must admit that, on strict legal 
principles, there should not only have been a 
conformity to the commutation act, but, in the 
act itself, to make it binding, there should have 
been a regard to private vested rights." 

In the early organization of the Govern- 
ment, the funding law was the only way 
in which over three hundred millions of 
indebtedness could at that time have 
been otherwise disposed of. But not so 
now ; the sacred pledges and words of 
Washington are applicable to us as to 
the old Confederacy : 

" The path of our duty is plain before us ; 
honesty will be found, on every experiment, to 
be the best and only true policy. Let us, then, 
as a nation, be just; let us fulfil the public 
contracts which Congress had undoubtedly a 
right to make, for the purpose of carrying on the 
war, with the same good faith we suppose our- 
selves bound to perform private engagements. 

" In this state of absolute freedom and perfect 
security, who will grudge to yield a very little of 
his property to support the common interest of 
society, and to insure the protection of Govern- 
ment? Who does not remember the frequent 
declarations, at the commencement of the war, 
that we should be completely satisfied, if, at the 
expense of one-half, we could defend the re- 
mainder of our possessions? 

"Where is the man to be found who wishes to 
remain indebted for the defence of his own per- 
son and property to the exertions, the bravery, 
and the blood of others, without making the 
generous effort to pay the debt of honor and 
gratitude ? In what part of the continent shall 
we find a man, or body of men, who would not 
blush to stand up and. propose measures pur- 
posely calculated to rob the soldier of his sti- 
pend, and the public creditor of his due ? And 
were it possible that such a flagrant instance of 
injustice could ever happen, would it not excite 
the general indignation, and tend to bring down 
upon the authors of such measures the aggrava- 
ted vengeance of Heaven ? 

" As to the idea which I am informed has in 



'\ 



13 



some instances prevaikd, that half pay and com- 
mutation are to be regarded merely in thn odious 
light of a pension, it ought to be exploded for- 
ever. 

" That provision should be vietred as it really 
was, a reasonable compensation offered by Con- 
gress, at a time when thej' had nothing else to 
give to ofBcers of the army for services then to 
be performed. 

" It was the only means to prevent a total 
dereliction of the service ; it was a part of their 
hire. 

" I may be allowed to say, it was the price of 
their blood and your independence." 

It was more than a common debt ; it 
is a debt of Jionor ; it can never be 
considered as a pension or gratuity, nor 
cancelled until it is fairly discharged. 

These are not claims for a pension 
founded on a mere gratuity ; but a legal 
debt, founded on a solemn contract duly 
recorded on the books of the Goverij- 
ment, Avherein there cannot by any pos- 
sibility be any mistake as to the party, 
or the amount paid, and the sum now 
due. 

The resolve of October 21, 1780, 
constituted a solemn. contract with each 
officer for grants of land and half pay 
during life. The promise of land was 
blended with and made a part of the 
same entire consideration with the half- 
pay portion of the contract. The 
acknowledgment, presentation, or rec- 
ord, of the one, was the presentation, 
promise, and record, of the other. The 
suspension of the acts of limitation of 
one portion would equally afiect the 
other. These were vested rights, and 
the contract could not be varied, rescind- 
ed, or impaired, by any subsequent acts 
of legislation, without the consent of 
each officer, individually. * 

How did the Government meet their 
obligation for the land portion of the 
contract 1 Why, their land was as- 
signed to them in the wilds of the West- 
ern territory, then claimed by and in 
possession of hostile Indian natives, to be 
conquered, and the possession of it main- 
tained by continued hardships, fighting, 
sufferings, and dangers, which, during 
all of the eight years' war for independ- 
ence, was never before endured. Here 
the officers and soldiers, or many of 
them, sacrificed their lives in advancing 



the settlement of our great Western terri- 
tory, adding ten years more of service 
without pay for the benefit of our coun- 
try. 

The report of the Secretary of the 
Interior, of 1857, shows that the public 
surveys have already been extended 
over more than three-fourths of the 
whole surface of the public domain. 
That surface, as therein stated, is four- 
teen hundred and fifty million acres ; of 
this, there have been surveyed and pre- 
pared for market, public lands, &c., four 
hundred and one million six hundred 
and four thousand nine hundred and 
eighty-eight acres, of which quantity 
fifty-seven million four hundred and 
forty-two thousand eight hundred and 
seventy acres have never been offered, 
and are consequently now liable to pub- 
lic sale ; in addition to which, there were 
upwards of eighty million acres subject 
to entry at private sale on the 30th of 
September last. 

Of the public domain, there have been 
disposed of, by private claims, grants, 
sales, &c., embracing surveyed and 
unsurveyed land, three hundred and 
sixty-three million eight hundred and 
sixty-two thousand four hundred and 
sixty-four acres ; which, deducted from 
the whole surface, leaves undisposed of 
an area of one thousand and eighty-six 
million one hundred and thirty-seven 
thousand five hundred and thirty-six 
acres. 

It is said the cash sales of the public 
lands up to June 30, 1857, were for one 
hundred and thirty-nine million thirty- 
two thousand eight hundred and fifty- 
five acres ; grants for schools, &c., sixty- 
seven million seven hundred and thirty- 
six thousand five hundred and seventy- 
two ; internal improvements, ten million 
eight hundred and ninety-seven thou- 
sand three hundred and thirteen ; none 
of which has been appropriated for the 
payment of these debts, long due. Much 
of it has been appropriated for mere ob- 
jects of gratuity. There have been is- 
sued five hundred and forty-seven thou- 
sand two hundred and fifty land war- 
rants, which required sixty million seven 



14 



hundred and four thousand nine hundred 
and forty-two acres to satisfy. And 
since these claims have been presented 
for the consideration of Congress, strange 
to say — founded, as they are, upon an 
express contract, a mortgage on this 
pubUc domain, embraced in this bill, all 
the provisions of which cannot call for 
the proceeds of the sales of over five 
million acres of this land, which many 
of them gave a service of eight years to 
acquire, and ten years' service to main- 
tain — as I before remarked, more than 
fifty million acres have been applied for 
services of three months to fourteen 
days, amounting to over sixty-tivo mil- 
lion dollars^ where there was no con- 
tract, express or implied ; and this 
liberal action of our Government to- 
wards those who were engaged in the 
military service I entirely and cordially 
approve. 

How much of the $160,000,000 from 
the cash sales of these lands have been 
thus appropriated, it would not be an 
easy task to point out. There are, 
however, of this public domain, left un- 
disposed of, more than one thousand mil- 
lion acres. It would be a gross libel 
on the character and justice of the many 
very distinguished jurists, statesmen, 
and patriots, who have at different inter- 
vals since 1783, down to the present 
time, pronounced the commutation act 
of March 22, 1783, to have been found- 
ed on the great exigency of the Govern- 
ment, having for its object the delay of 
payment of just debts which could not 
have been met. Certificates of the Gov- 
ernment could be funded, but the con- 
tract for half pay could not; this Gov- 
ernment had long been preparing for 
that scheme of public finance, which 
was founded in necessity. 

Now, this appears to me a plain case ; 
I trust it so appears to others. Cer- 
tainly, upon a thorough examination of 
the subject, all must realize that great 
injustice has been done to those who 
have achieved our independence as a 
nation, and that it is the duty of Con- 
gress to remove at once the foul blot 
which now rests upon our national honor. 



I am moved to indignation at the ingrat- 
itude and the almost criminal neglect 
of the Government and the Represent- 
atives towards those who laid the found- 
ation of all our greatness, our power, 
and our glory. Think not that the 
people will be content with delay — with 
the shuffling off from year to year these 
long-deferred and just claims. Let them 
know at once what they have to depend 
upon, and let it be in consonance with 
the voice of gratitude and justice. Be 
true to them, and they will be true to 
themselves and to you. They see us 
lavishly appropriating millions for pur- 
poses of doubtful expediency — if not, in 
part, to secure the advancement of party 
aims, to reward partisan favorites, and 
pe-rpetuate in the rule of the Govern- 
bient measures of oppression and wrong — 
while we tardily, if at all, discharge 
their honest demands. The spirit of 
inquiry is awake. They are now watch- 
ing with earnest interest all our acts. 
It will not do to leave this work undone, 
and say that other things are proper, 
because they have been done ; their 
voice, which is mighty in making and 
unmaking Presidents, Cabinets, and 
Representatives, will be heard through- 
out the land, demanding the reason; 
wherefore millions for you, and not one 
cent for us 1 

In closing, I beg leave to refer to the 
result of all the action of Congress, as 
stated by another. 

" It ought not to be forgotten, in connection 
with the contract for half pay for life, that the 
Government was driven from one expedient to 
another, which the imperative necessities of the 
moment required, to induce engagements for the 
war. 

" 1. Promising grants of land — September 16, 
1776. 

" 2. Seven years' half pay to those who should 
serve to the end of the war — May 18, 1778. 

" 3. Seven years' half pay, in specie or current 
money, to the supernumerary oiEcers, to com- 
mence January 1, 1781 ; as also grants of land — 
Octobers, 1780. 

" 4. Not being able to meet the half pay of a 
single year, in specie or current money, they in- 
crease the seven years' half pay to half pay du- 
ring life— October 21, 1780. 

" 5. As peace had been conquered, and the 
Government were unable to pay the ofBcers their 
arrears for monthly pay, or to make any provis- 
ion for their half pay during life, they resorted 



15 



to another expedient, of promising the officers five 
years' full pay, in specie or securities, with interest, 
payable annually — March 22, 1783. 

" 6. Not being able to pay or secure this small 
amount of their claim, resorted to another des- 
perate expedient, and caused the Paymaster Gen- 
eral to issue and send\,o the officers more of these 
repudiated certificates, as specie and securities. 

" 7. Not being able to pay the interest of a 
single year, repudiate them. 

" Finally, resorted to a funding act, by which 
the new Government propose an arrangement by 
which there is to be no distinction between the 
officer who has been charged twenty-four hun- 
dred dollars in commutation, and the person to 
whom he has sold them at the value fixed by 
law — for sixty dollars." 

And allow me to say, we must not 
forget, that while the troops of the sev- 
eral State lines were employed by the 
authority of their several State Govern- 
ments, which had been long established, 
and were responsible for and able to dis- 
charge all of their liabilities to their 
troops, it was quite otherwise with the 
oflScers and soldiers of the Continental 
line. They were in the employ of 
no acknowledged Government, although 
they were spending their entire private 
fortunes, under the authority of those 
who could neither feed, clothe, nor pay 
them, to gain independence and liberty 
for all. The Continental army con- 
tinued its existence and efforts, operating 
North and South, until the great struggle 
for liberty had triumphed over all ob- 
stacles. 

They had no security for their services 
and their fortunes, except in the law 
and honor of the American people. 
Virginia promised to her officers of her 
State line, who should serve only three 
years, half pay during life; and her 
courts are open to the enforcement of 
this half-pay contract; and those who 
did not receive their half pay to the 
time of their death, their heirs recovered 
of Virginia not only the half pay, but 
also the interest on each year's half pay 
as the same became due. Yet, to the 
great dishonor of this Government, these 
officers of Virginia and of the other 
States, who belonged to the Continental 
line, have been deprived to this late day 
even the pittance of this half pay; and 
this Government, after having robbed 
these officers and disinherited their chil- 



dren, still asked them to wait until the 
influences of a long embargo, and also 
that of a long war with England, had 
passed off, and then a war with Mexico, 
and then a war with Utah, until the 
patriots' grave has shielded them from 
the influences of such ingratitude and 
neglect. Their children, however, are 
still here before the Congress of a pow- 
erful and rich nation. They are here 
with this sacred contract in their hands, 
guarantied by the sixth article of the 
Constitution. Can Congress with honor 
to itself refuse to pay the small amount 
contemplated in this bill 1 An omission 
to support this bill would imply, as I 
verily believe, aside from any special 
request, a great want of a just appre- 
ciation of our duty and relation to our 
constituents. Whether we shall con- 
sider ourselves as sitting as judges, ju- 
rors, or legislators, we cannot avoid the 
conclusion, that the creditors have in 
the present case made out more than a 
prima facie evidence of the justice and 
legality of their claim, and I cannot 
forego the opportunity of recording my 
views in their behalf. 

The following is a synopsis of the 
bill: 

Section 1 provides that the officers of the army 
who were entitled to half pay for life under the 
resolutions of Congress of Sd and 21st of Octo- 
ber, 1780, 17th January, 1781, 8th of May, 1781, 
and 8th of March, 1785, shall be entitled to re- 
ceive the same, although such officer may have 
received, in lieu thereof, the commutation of full 
pay for five years, under the resolution of Con- 
gress of the 22d of March, 1783. 

Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the proper 
accounting officer of the Treasury, when applied 
to for that purpose by any one who by this act 
is entitled to receive, or his or her guardian, to 
ascertain what is due to such officer from the 
time he became entitled to said half pay until 
the day of his death. 

Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, when the amount due to 
any officer has been ascertained as aforesaid, to 
pay the same, as hereinafter directed, after de- 
ducting therefrom the amount received for com- 
mutation under any special act of Congress, or 
under the resolution of March 22, 1783, and all 
sums received by such officer as pay or pensioa 
under the act of May 15, 1828. 

Sec. 4. That the benefit of the resolution of 
the 24th of August, 1780, shall be extended to 
the widows and lineal descendants of all officers 
embraced therein who died in the service at any 
period during the war of the Revolution. 



16 



Sec. 5. Extends the benefits of the acts of 
March 3, 1855, and May 14, 185G, to the survi- 
ving children of the soldiers of the Revolution and 
persons provided for by those acts — (160 acres 
of land to the children of each soldier, &c.) 

Sec. 6. The Secretary of the Treasury, under 
the direction and with the approbation of the 
President of the United States, shall prescribe 
such rules of evidence as may be necessary to 
carry into effect the provisions of this act. 

Sec. 7. All payments made by authority of 
this act shall be without interest. 

Sec. 8. That in every case the said accounting 
officer, before he shall order any claim to be paid, 
shall require satisfactory proof that the person 
-'• persons in whose name the same may be pre- 

/ted is or are the bona fide owner or owners 

/■ereof, and that the claim has not been sold, 

T»ransferred, or mortgaged, or any part thereof, to 

ny person or persons whomsoever ; and all sales, 

ransfers, mortgages, or pledges of any Buch 

<?lain\s, are hereby declared void, and of no effect 

whatever. 

Sec. 9. That surgeons' mates sh.,.l b. entitled 
to the benefit of the resolution of the iVth of 
January, 1*781, and receive the same pay as hos- 
pital physiciaiis and surgeons. 

Sec. 10. That all persons who apply for and 
receive the benefit of this act shall receive the 
same in full satisfaction of all claims under any 
of the resolutions of Congress hereinbefore re- 
cited, and for all losses alleged to have been 
sustained by depreciation in the value of the 
certificates received as commutation under the 
resolution of Congress of the 22d March, 1783. 



Sec 
ed un 
paid t( 
to his 1 
none li 
or theii 
child ta 
ceased \. 



LIBRARY 5» 



NGRESS 




800 



e allow- 
hall be 
^ dead, 
lere be 
Idren, 
•.^v^eased 



, „„„ 532 

(3 Oil 0*i .ue snare of their de- 
.xo; and in case there be no lineal 
descendant, then to the next of kin of such de- 
ceased officer. 

Sec. 12. That the Secretary of' the Treasury, 
instead of paying directly, as provided for in 
section 11, may in his discretion, and under such 
rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, pay 
thi claims allowed under this act to the admin- 
istrator, executor, or curator of such deceased 
officer, ibr the sole and exclusive benefit of his 
child or children, or their descendants, or next 
of kin, to be distributed among them according 
to the provisions of section 11 of this act; and 
the same shall not be considered as part of the 
assets of said estate, nor applied to the payment 
of the debts of said estate, in any case what- 
soever. 

Sec. 13. That all payments under this act 
shall be made in Treasury notes, bearing an an- 
nual interest of six per cent, from the time of 
their issue, and be redeemable at the pleasure of 
the Government of the United States. 

Sec. 14. This act shall continue and be of 
force for the terra of ten years, and no longer ; 
and all claims not presented, with the evidence, 
for their adjudication within that time shall be 
forever barred. 

Sec. 15. That the decision of the accounting 
officer shall be final and conclusive. 



Q 



